International Phonetic Alphabet For English Vowels

The symbol [ː] is just the IPA symbol that means the vowel to the left is long. The vowels marked here with [ː] are the English vowels that are usually longer than the others.

Note about [ɑ] and [ɔ]: For a large number of speakers of American English, there is no distinction between these vowels. This is called the cot-caught merger|[ɑ]/[ɔ] (or cot/caught) merger]]. For these speakers, all words with [ɔ] are pronounced with [ɑ].

1.2 Reduced vowels

These are vowels that occur in unstressed syllables.

roses - close central unrounded vowel AmE only. This sound is called barred-i
- IPA [ɨ]
- SAMPA [1]
Rosa 's - This sound is called schwa
- IPA [ə]
- SAMPA [@]
runner - AmE only. This is called an r-colored schwa. This is a single sound, not a sequence of schwa and r.
- IPA [ɚ]
- SAMPA [@`]
button - AmE only. This is called syllabic n.
- IPA [n̩]
- SAMPA [n=]
bottom - AmE only. This is called syllabic m.
- IPA [m̩]
- SAMPA [m=]

Some speakers do not have a contrast between barred-i and schwa.

1.3 R-colored vowels

These are plain vowels that are followed by r.

her
- IPA AmE [ɝ] BrE [ɜ]
- SAMPA AmE[3`] BrE [3]
near
- IPA AmE [iɹ] BrE [ɪə]
- SAMPA AmE[ir\] BrE [I@]
marry - AmE only *
- IPA [æɹ]
- SAMPA [{r\]
merry - AmE only *
- IPA [ɛɹ]
- SAMPA[Er\]
bare
- IPA AmE [eɹ] BrE [ɛə]
- SAMPA AmE[er\] BrE [E@]
car
- IPA AmE [aɹ] BrE [aː]
- SAMPA AmE[ar\] BrE [a:]
core
- IPA AmE [ɔɹ] BrE [ɔə]
- SAMPA AmE[Or\] BrE [O:]
pure
- IPA AmE [ʊɹ] BrE [ʊə]
- SAMPA AmE[Ur\] BrE [U@]
fire
- IPA AmE [aɪɚ] BrE [aɪə]
- SAMPA AmE[aI@`] BrE[aI@]
hour
- IPA AmE [aʊɚ] BrE[aʊə]
- SAMPA AmE[aU@`] BrE[aU@]

For many speakers of American English, all or some of [æ], [ɛ], and [e] are merged before [r]. That is, merry, marry, and/or Mary are homophones. The vowel is pronounced as [eɹ]. For speakers of British English, these sequences are just the plain vowel, with [ɹ] beginning the next syllable;

Also note that speakers with the [ɑ]/[ɔ] merger usually still pronounce the vowel in core as [ɔɹ].

1.4 Diphthongs

Diphthongs are vowel sounds that smoothly glide from one vowel to another.

dry
- IPA [aɪ]
- SAMPA [aI]
boy
- IPA [ɔɪ]
- SAMPA [OI]
now
- IPA [aʊ]
- SAMPA [aU]
cue
- IPA [ju]
- SAMPA [ju]

2 Consonants

2.1 Stops

pit - voiceless bilabial plosive
- IPA [p]
- SAMPA [p]
bit - voiced bilabial plosive
- IPA [b]
- SAMPA [b]
tin - voiceless alveolar plosive
- IPA [t]
- SAMPA [t]
din - voiced alveolar plosive
- IPA [d]
- SAMPA [d]
kin - voiceless velar plosive
- IPA [k]
- SAMPA [k]
gone - voiced velar plosive
- IPA [g]
- SAMPA [g]
button - glottal stop (not usually considered a separate phoneme of English.)
- IPA [ʔ]
- SAMPA [?]

The voiceless stops, [p], [t], and [k] are aspirated when they occur at the beginning of stressed syllables. Aspiration is marked in IPA with a superscript h. These symbols are thus [pʰ], [tʰ], [kʰ]. It is not always necessary to include the superscript h when transcribing English into IPA because speakers make the distinction automatically.

2.2 Nasals

nap - alveolar nasal
- IPA [n]
- SAMPA [n]
map - bilabial nasal
- IPA [m]
- SAMPA [m]
emphasis - labiodental nasal - this is not a separate phoneme, but an allophone of m
- IPA [ɱ]
- SAMPA [F]
bang - velar nasal - This sound is called engma, eng or agma
- IPA [n]
- SAMPA [N]

Note that engma only occurs postvocalically (after vowels) in English.

2.3 Fricatives

fool - voiceless labiodental fricative
- IPA [f]
- SAMPA [f]
voice - voiced labiodental fricative
- IPA [v]
- SAMPA [v]
thing - voiceless interdental fricative
- IPA [θ]
- SAMPA [T]
this - voiced interdental fricative
- IPA [ð]
- SAMPA [D]
see - voiceless alveolar fricative
- IPA [s]
- SAMPA [s]
zoo - voiced alveolar fricative
- IPA [z]
- SAMPA [z]
she - voiceless postalveolar fricative - This symbol is called esh
- IPA [ʃ]
- SAMPA [S]
measure - voiced postalveolar fricative - This symbol is called ezh or yogh
- IPA [ʒ]
- SAMPA [Z]
ham - voiceless glottal fricative
- IPA [h]
- SAMPA [h]

Note that the th in thigh and thy are different sounds. The latter is voiced, the former is voiceless.

2.4 Affricates

Affricates are phonetically just sequence of a stop and a fricative.

chop
- IPA [tʃ]
- SAMPA [tS]
joy
- IPA [dʒ]
- SAMPA [dZ]

A distinction is made in English between affricates and a series of a stop and fricative, because a syllable boundary never separates an affricate, but it might separate a stop/fricative sequence.

2.5 Approximants

Approximants, also called liquids, are smooth sounds that are almost like vowels.

left - lateral alveolar approximant
- IPA [l]
- SAMPA [l]
coal - velarized lateral alveolar approximant - this sound is sometimes called dark l (not a separate phoneme of English, but an allophone of [l])
- IPA [ɫ]
- SAMPA 5
run - alveolar approximant
- IPA [ɹ]
- SAMPA [r\]
better - AmE only - alveolar flap (not a separate phoneme of English, but an allophone of [t] and [d])
- IPA [ɾ]
- SAMPA [4]
we - labial-velar approximant
- IPA [w]
- SAMPA [w]
yes - palatal approximant
- IPA [j]
- SAMPA [j]

[w] and [j] are also called glides.

3 Suprasegmentals

The suprasegmental symbols are called that because they apply to more than one segment, or symbol. In English, the relevant suprasegmentals are the markings for primary and secondary stress.

primary stress
- IPA [ˈ]
- SAMPA ["]
secondary stress
- IPA [ˌ]
- SAMPA [%]
syllable break
- IPA [.]
- SAMPA [.]

4 IPA examples

The square brackets around IPA symbols are not part of the IPA itself, but just serve to indicate that the contents of the brackets are not normal text, but IPA symbols. The distinction is important, as some IPA transcriptions can look like other words. For example, the IPA transcription for bean is [bin].

phonetician AmE [ˌfoʊnəˈtɪʃn̩] BrE [ˌfəʊnəˈtɪʃən]

5 See also

IPA in Unicode

English language

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Home > International Phonetic Alphabet for English

1 Vowels

1.1 English 'plain' vowels